Just read your reply, and I think it's best to incorporate elements of both lifestyles, on and off the grid. I might feel differently if I had enough money to buy property with a reliable water source on it: a well, spring, or year-round stream would be great. But those properties are expensive, while cheap fixer homes can still be found on the grid, 10-4? I like my daily showers too, and occasionally a hot bath in cooler weather, lol. Hard to enjoy those when ya gotta ration your hauled water... in such a case, I'd prefer to simply be connected to a municipal or rural water supply. Nothing wrong with living outside town limits, maybe using a septic tank but still on county or rural water... I live in town, where property taxes are always higher than county taxes, but I wouldn't mind living outside town limits if I ever get around to flipping this home and buying another.
Don't get me wrong, I love the whole notion of building my own home, if I ever do here in the Southwest I will probably use adobe, yeah? And the idea of never having to pay utility bills again is very appealing, but even if you build your own solar power system, tax breaks and incentives notwithstanding, that system will STILL cost you plenty of money, though it'll pay for itself in the long run. I guess what I'm trying to say is that my ideal off-grid home would have thick adobe walls, a metal roof, septic tank, solar & wind power, a reliable water source, and enough windows to allow plenty of natural light into my home. An alternate 'ideal off-grid home' would be some sort of wooden treehouse with heaps of balconies, aerial walkways and remote decks. That would be so cool... kinda like some of those homes seen in 'Treehouse Masters' (I think that's what the show was called).
I remember one cool home in East San Diego County, it was built directly into a huge boulder outcrop, with the rooms situated between monster boulders, lol. Had a huge picture window facing the sunset, I always liked that home... must have been a regular feat of engineering when it was built, with holes drilled & anchors placed directly in the rocks. Badass home for a technical rock climber, lol. I'm pretty sure it was on some kind of septic system, though it might have been tied in to the rural water system out there. Anyway, it was a cool place... some other dude not too far away had a full-on stone CASTLE built atop a ridge, the guy must have been an eccentric, lol. Remember, they're only "poor" if they lack money... the crazy rich folks are "eccentric!" I would've liked to set up a 3-D archery course around that castle... using a shitload of fake human targets, lol.
Ya know, since we're on this topic of living on or off the grid, I'll tell ya about another cool home I saw back in the day, this one in Huntington Beach (a.k.a. Surf City, USA). Some guy bought an old wooden & metal water tower (pretty sure it was originally for water), then removed the tank and built a home atop the tower, with a primo view clear to the ocean, lol. That was a cool place, high above the neighbors' homes too, so no privacy issues (for the tower dweller, I mean). Plumbing might have called for special measures, as the tower must have been 70' or 80' high, maybe even higher. My friends in HB showed me that place when they gave me a tour of the town, I recall thinking how cool and different it was from the everyday homes around it. Same goes for those old lighthouses that folks buy to renovate and make homes, those things are ******* RADICAL!!! But NOT cheap...
Anyway, I'm back to my wonderfully cool rainy weather here, looks like we have a short break right now, but the forecast calls for more rain tonight and tomorrow. I haven't even turned on my A/C units at all today, got the windows wide open and the fan on to draw cool fresh air through my home. In a way, I employ off-grid techniques here in town, saving money at every opportunity... that's what counts the most nowadays, I reckon. I WISH I had the money to go fully off-grid, but it requires an initial investment and a lot of hard work... I'm not averse to hard work, especially when it's on my own home, but money is the big factor to consider. It's so much cheaper to simply buy a fixer home and put a little money and a lot of work into it, making it a comfortable dwelling, ya know? To me, a home HAS to be COMFORTABLE!!! Otherwise, what's the point of owning it? My homes are always open, airy, and comfortable with plenty of natural light & ventilation. CHEERS!!!
Edit: Holy Crap!!! I just Googled "tower home in huntington beach ca" and saw some pics of that very home I mentioned!!! Looks as if they've built more floors onto it since I saw it so long ago... ****** looks HIGHER too!!! Maybe it's just a memory lapse on my part, lol. Check it out, man... it's worth the web detour, lol. Of course, I wouldn't want to live there NOW, with all the problems L.A. has, but it's still a good example of how folks can repurpose objects and make homes out of them! Kinda like those folks who buy old missile silos and live underground... not my cuppa tea, I like my views, but still very creative! Moi, I'd be more likely to go with adobe or build a badass treehouse, that's just my nature... my seven brothers & I used to climb some righteous trees on our rental property outside Athens, Greece (1968-1973), we had tall pines & other evergreens with branches just perfect for climbing, lol. Maybe that's where my love of climbing was born, lol... gotta love the views from up in the trees!!!
Further editing: Say, I'd like to share what I've learned about buying fixer homes with those who might be considering such a purchase in the near future. I may very well flip this home too, so I've been looking at various properties in AZ and NM. I don't wanna leave the Southwest, I like my sunshine, but I also like living at elevation, where it's more comfortable. If I buy another property in the months ahead, I will buy a trailer or manufactured home outside town limits, on septic but still close enough to be on rural water. Possibly on the electric grid too, though I wouldn't mind solar & wind power. Don't want to be too far from supply points either, or that'll cost in fuel & time. But one can still find nice fixer homes with low county taxes, sitting on decent-sized parcels of land. I recently saw two fixer trailers on an acre each (or slightly more), situated in the country but not too far from town... one place had annual property taxes of $55, lol. FIFTY-FIVE LOUSY DOLLARS PER YEAR!!! That's a good way to save heller money, hundreds of dollars every year! Something to consider, since you'll be paying property taxes whether you're on or off the grid. Hard to get around those property taxes, lol...
Even further editing, lol: Now that I study those HB tower photos, it looks as if the legs are metal and not wood. Whoever renovated the tower may have also left part of the tank in place---the wooden (?) tank cover, maybe? You'd think the tank itself would've been metal, but maybe it was entirely made of wood? Hard to say, it has been DECADES since I saw that place... but it's pretty creative, what those folks did with the tower, huh? Check out the view of the ocean in that one pic... I guess the owners make bank by renting out the tower during the summer? I wonder how much they charge, lol... but that IS one helluva view!!! If you HAD to live in Huntington Beach (some photo files say the tower is in nearby Seal Beach, dunno if that's correct), I guess that'd be the place to do it!!! Sit up there and sip alcoholic beverages, maybe fire up a bowl o' chronic... and perhaps a BBQ on the balcony, lol. Get a telescope for checking the surf, aye? What a cool pad, that tower home... very nicely done, and good thinking to rise above the crowd of neighbors, lol. :shy: